Prof. Dr. Samina Malik, Dean Faculty of Social Sciences arranged a meeting with the Chairpersons/Incharges of all departments of FSS to discuss the progress of academic activities in response to the global pandemic of fatal coronavirus.
The meeting was conducted online through ZOOM and was attended by Prof. Dr. N. B. Jumani, Dr. Shamsa Aziz & Dr. Muhammad Munir Kayani (Education), Dr Mujeeb Ahmad & Dr. Rafia Riaz (History), Dr. Noreen Saher & Dr. Tauqeer Sarghana (Anthropology), Dr. Manzoor Afridi & Dr. Noor Fatima (Politics and International Relations), Dr. Amrat Haq & Mr. Inam ur Rahman (Media and Communications), Dr. Nazia Iqbal (Psychology), Dr. Babar Akram (Sociology), Mr. Zeeshan Haider & Ms Attia Abrar (Islamic Art & Architecture), Dr. Fouzia Ajmal and Dr. Saima Kanwal.
She shared that dedicated people have been working to respond to the academic challenges posed by COVID-19 in the faculty. The guidelines were already circulated to all departments earlier and this meeting was a follow up to discuss various concerns. She shared that transition to online teaching and learning was a challenge but by the grace of Allah the things are going smooth now. The deadlines and mid term mechanism was discussed in detail during the online meeting.
The Chairpersons/Incharges of the Departments shared that all the regular and visiting teachers are taking their classes through various online modes as per the availability of students e.g. Whatsapp, Skype, Google Classroom and Zoom etc.
They told that they are in touch with the Class Representatives and student through emails also. The instructional material is also being shared with them. They have created WhatsApp groups with the regular and part time teachers and have assigned duties to some staff and faculty members to collect and maintain the record of various activities.
Prof. Dr. N. B. Jumani shared some experiences and useful links for online teaching and learning and guided about mechanism to reach the students who have connectivity issues in some areas.
Dr. Shamsa Aziz, Chairperson Department of Education shared the performa and guidelines for maintaining the record of each course containing all details of classes, attendance of students, topics covered, assignments given, marked assignments with feedback along with copies of material shared with students etc.
The Dean FSS appreciated the efforts of all chairpersons for continuing the academic activities of their respective Departments. She urged them to share their experiences with her and conduct online meetings of the faculty members on regular basis. The heads of the departments acknowledged the continuous guidance provided by the seniors and cooperation of their faculty, staff and students for smooth transition towards online learning. They also hoped that they will be able to achieve the targets of academic activities of the semester Spring 2020 with quality education by utilizing various Open and Distance Education Resources.
The meeting ended with the dua to save us and the whole world from this panademic.